Jennifer L. Joost, a partner of the Firm, concentrates her practice in the area of securities litigation. Jennifer began her legal career at the Firm in May of 2005, working first as a summer associate and a law clerk during her final year of law school, before starting as a full-time associate in August of 2006.

Jennifer has represented individual and institutional investors in a variety of securities class actions in which the Firm has served as Lead or Co-Lead Counsel, including some of the largest federal securities class actions to arise out of the recent financial crisis. Jennifer has been involved in all aspects of pre-trial proceedings, including drafting pleadings, litigating motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, conducting extensive document and deposition discovery, with a focus on navigating complex electronic discovery issues that oftentimes arise in large-scale, multi-year securities class actions. Jennifer also has presented oral argument in opposition to several motions to dismiss and has been actively involved in several appeals. In her practice, Jennifer works with many types of investors, including individuals and pension funds, utilizing the remedies afforded by the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, among others, on their behalf to recover losses and promote corporate accountability.

Court-appointed Co-Lead Counsel, Kessler Topaz, has negotiated a $150 million cash settlement on behalf of a certified class of investors with defendant JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JPMorgan”). The settlement resolves claims arising out of the 2012 trading and risk management activities of JPMorgan’s Chief Investment Office (“CIO”) and its so-called “London Whale” trades.

The case was initially filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in July 2012. In August 2012, the Court appointed Kessler Topaz, along with two other law firms, to serve as Lead Counsel in the action. In November 2012, Kessler Topaz filed a Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint on behalf of the Lead Plaintiffs, including its client, Sjunde AP-Fonden or AP7, and the putative class of JPMorgan investors. Following investigations by various governmental entities, including the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate, Kessler Topaz amended the operative complaint by filing a Second Amended Consolidated Class Action Complaint in April 2013 (“Complaint”).

The Complaint asserted claims pursuant to Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder against JPMorgan and certain of its officers during the relevant period. The Complaint alleged that defendants violated the federal securities laws by issuing false and misleading statements regarding the activities of the CIO and the extent of the risk posed by the London Whale trades within the CIO’s synthetic credit portfolio. Specifically, the Complaint alleged that on April 13, 2012, when defendants characterized the London Whale trading as customary “hedging” activity, they knew or recklessly disregarded that the London Whale trades were undisclosed, high-risk proprietary trades. Furthermore, the Complaint alleges that when analysts began expressing concern over the London Whale trading activities, JPMorgan CEO James Dimon fraudulently dismissed them as a "complete tempest in a teapot." The alleged false and misleading statements caused the price of JPMorgan common stock to be artificially inflated during the Class Period and when it was disclosed in May 2012 that the London Whale trades had lost over $2 billion, the price of the stock declined significantly, causing damage to investors.

Following more than three years of hard-fought litigation, including the Court’s certification of a class of investors, the parties agreed to mediate the case before the Honorable Daniel H. Weinstein (ret.). The mediation process, which commenced in June 2015, was successful and culminated in the settlement. The parties filed the settlement papers on December 18, 2015 and received preliminary approval of the settlement on January 19, 2016. The Court scheduled a final fairness hearing on May 10, 2016.

Additional information concerning the settlement can be found at www.jpmorgansecuritieslitigation.com.

Obtained a $2.4 billion settlement in litigation against Bank of America (BoA) relating to its merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. (Merrill). Our clients, Dutch National pension fund PGGM and Swedish National pension fund AP4, alleged that BoA gave shareholders false and misleading information about Merrill’s financial condition and obligations prior to a key vote on the merger.

The settlement, which included an undertaking to improve corporate governance policies, was the 6th-largest ever in a securities class action and the largest so far to come out of the subprime meltdown and credit crisis.

Represented the Miami Beach Employees’ Retirement Plan, the City of Tallahassee Pension Plan, the Philadelphia Public Employees Retirement System and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Pension Fund in pursuing claims against Citigroup for concealing its exposure to subprime mortgage debt—exposure that, once revealed, led to massive investment losses during the 2008 financial crisis.

Investors’ claims resulted in a historic settlement of $730 million, the second largest recovery ever under Section 11 of the Securities Act.

As co-lead counsel representing the Maine Public Employees’ Retirement System, secured a $500 million settlement for a class of plaintiffs that purchased mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issued by Countrywide Financial Corporation (Countrywide).

Plaintiffs alleged that Countrywide and various of its subsidiaries, officers and investment banks made false and misleading statements in more than 450 prospectus supplements relating to the issuance of subprime and Alt-A MBS—in particular, the quality of the underlying loans. When information about the loans became public, the plaintiffs’ investments declined in value. The ensuing six-year litigation raised several issues of first impression in the Ninth Circuit.

Represented Danish mutual fund manager Danske Invest A/S and Westmoreland County Employees’ Retirement System as co-lead counsel in an class action alleging that Medtronic and its senior officers failed to disclose the company’s reliance on illegal “off-label” marketing techniques to drive sales of its INFUSE Bone Graft medical device.

As a result of the illegal marketing practices, Medtronic became the target of a federal government investigation. Stock prices plummeted when Medtronic’s CEO reported that the company had received a U.S. Department of Justice subpoena, significantly impacting the value of the plaintiff’s stock. After hard-fought discovery and class certification battles, Medtronic agreed to pay shareholders $85 million.